Persona: Pursuing My True Self, Season One
by Lone Archer
Summary: Persona is a tale based off of the popular video game series with all new characters and an altered plot. When twins Nick and Alice set off to college in the pseudo industrial British suburb of Lakeridge, they find conflicting ideals and psychologies.
1. 1: Nights in White Satin

**Episode 101**

**[Invocation]**

**Nights in White Satin**

Distorted lights flickered on and off as the roaring train rushed by. A slim, dark brown haired young man glanced out the window at the dark night and fields of green. He failed to suppress a small smile before nudging the auburn haired girl next to him. She stirred a little bit but refused to wake up. The young man looked up and slowly inhaled, thinking about what he would be leaving behind by attending a college so far from everything familiar.

He had slightly slanted green eyes, whose hue was so faint that they sometimes appeared teal. His hair was short and a bit messy, almost too dark to be honestly called brown, and his lips were thin and waning, worn away by years of not saying what he meant. His companion on the train was a slender young woman, with equally tinted green eyes. Her hair was slightly red and usually tied into a simple ponytail. Like his, her skin was fairly pale and had often been on the butt end of many a friendly joke. Beside him, the girl's eyes fluttered open and she opened her mouth in a yawn not unlike a cat's.

"Are we almost there, Nick?" asked the girl as she stretched her arms from her seat.

Nick nodded and wore a slight smile, "I tried to wake you, but then again so do earthquakes."

The flame-headed girl broke out into a playful grin, "Very funny, Nick. I do recall you not letting me in your room after the last big one."

Nick looked down, humor lost, "I was… busy." He hastily checked his watch and looked outside once again before changing the subject, "You excited to start college, Alice?"

Alice brushed her bangs out of her face with her left hand, "Loads more than you." She checked her purse to make sure that everything was in place and she hadn't left anything at the last hotel they stayed at. "It's going to be fun, Nick. Lighten up. College is when you get total freedom. Mom and Dad's not going to be there to bug you every five seconds. This is what you've always wanted, wasn't it?"

A part of Nick agreed with Alice. High school had generally been rewarding, but the constant pressure from his parents to do well and be a model for his twin sister was suffocating. The other part of him kept reminding him that college would just end up being more work, and then what would happen after? Jobs were so hard to get that he would probably end up living in a studio with four people he didn't know eating ramen every night. While he did feel a certain level of animosity towards his parents' strict nature, he appreciated all that they had done for him- namely give him food and a place to sleep every night.

The train slowly ground itself to a halt as the announcements blared. Nick and Alice picked up their bags and suitcases and made their way to the train exit. It seemed like they were the only ones in the train, and as they stepped outside, all of their personal belongings with them, it trudged off, tired from a long day's work.

It was almost midnight, and the outdoor train station's streetlamps provided the only substantial light. Alice shivered and pulled her jacket closer to her while Nick took out a map of the area.

"It's freaking freezing here, Nick. How far is our dorm?"

Nick took a step towards his sister and put an arm around her, pulling her into his body heat. "Dad said it'd only be about a forty minute drive. We should get a taxi."

Alice silently agreed. "Funny how they try to trick you into thinking it's such a natural place with all the grass and trees by the station, but most of it is just a cleaner version of a city."

Nick hailed a taxi and the two fit their suitcases and bags into the back seat before clambering in. The taxi driver was a middle-aged man wearing a button up shirt and a tie. A lean cigarette stuck out of the corner of his mouth and dangled precariously whenever he talked. He seemed to have been athletic when he was younger, but the years had eroded his physique, leaving him only a percentage of the muscle he once had.

"Where you headed off to at this time of night?"

"Our train just got here," Alice replied handing him a short stack of bills, "This should be enough to bring us to the dorm of Wolfridge."

The man grunted in reply and without warning, the car was off. The ride was uncomfortably silent for at least twenty minutes. The radio was sleeping and nothing of interest to speak of was happening outside on the streets. A handful of pedestrians were milling around every once in a while, but the majority of the suburb-city hybrid was tucked in and oblivious to its surroundings. After what seemed like forever, the taxi driver perked up.

"You two going to school at Wolfridge?" Nick nodded. The driver continued, "You know why it's called Wolfridge?"

"Isn't it because of an old story around here about a pack of wolves that used to hang around the area?" Alice questioned.

The man nodded. "Rumor has it that once this place became the half-assed industrial town it is, there was no place for the wildlife to live. A pack of wolves circled around the place for weeks before settling where the university would be now. They were right there out in the open and became a sort of attraction around here for months." He took a drag from his cigarette, "After the pack died off some time later, the school was built. A bunch of people petitioned to have it named after the pack and now there's a stone statue of a bunch of wolves in the front gate."

"Do you believe it?" Alice asked as she snuck a secret exchanged glance with her brother.

"Not for a second," the man snorted, "People here will jump at any opportunity to make this place seem more interesting than it is. Good education, sure, but don't let anyone fool you by telling you that hardcore scholars or anything famous ever comes out of here."

Nick almost laughed but a fluttering blue strobe light dashed across the windshield and the force of impact lodged it in his throat.

The car had abruptly stopped.

Nick turned to make sure Alice was okay, but stopped and stared at what was once a middle-aged taxi driver. A solid black coffin rested on the driver's seat, covered by a crimson aura that flowed around it like water defying gravity. He yelped and instinctively grabbed the door handle behind him, forcing the door to open and pushing him roughly out of the vehicle by his own body weight. Alice quickly hurried out of the taxi as well and ran to Nick.

"Nick! Are you okay?"

Nick looked up at the strangely tinted green sky, "What the fuck is going on?"

Alice helped Nick up and the two looked around the area. They were well into the city of Lakeridge and all around then were moderately sized buildings, dark with shadow. The sky was a strange vomit green color and the moon enveloped the sky in an ivory satin. With an unspoken agreement, the twins opened the back door of the taxi and hurriedly grabbed their belongings before heading as far away from the taxi and its mysterious coffin resident as possible.

"We were headed in this direction, Nick, so let's just keep going this way. Maybe we'll run into the dorm."

The two walked in utter stunned silence, together for protection, with the wheels on their suitcases being the only noise. It was cold enough that their breath dispersed in the air like a cloud of white frost. Something glowing red was a ways off in front of them, and Nick nodded at Alice's questioning expression prompting the two of them to head off towards the light.

As the red lights got closer and closer, Alice gasped at the sight of a huddle of similar black coffins with red flaming auras all around them. She backed up into Nick who grabbed her with one arm and willfully looked the other way.

"Shit, Alice… Maybe we should go the other way."

Just then, a tan car honked behind the two and pulled up nearby. A neatly dressed woman stepped out of the car, wearing a white suit and slacks, briefcase in hand. She had a pencil resting on her ear and had light brown hair to her shoulders. The woman hastily made her way to the twins and placed her suitcase on the ground before checking to make sure they were fine.

"Are you two Nick and Alice Walker? How long have you been here?"

Nick nodded. Alice's eyes widened, "You're not a coffin!"

The woman looked at Alice as if she was delirious. "Of course I'm not a coffin. I'm Professor Duncan, mythology professor at Wolfridge University." She took out her staff identification card as if the two would not believe her. "Students shouldn't be out at this time of night." Nick remembered his sister and he signing up for Duncan's class.

Professor Duncan began helping Alice put suitcases in the trunk of her car while Nick looked frantically around at the bizarre scene around him. "What's going on, Professor? Why is everything so still?"

The teacher didn't seem to know how to answer his question but glanced at him in an all-knowing way. After all of their luggage was packed into her car, Alice and Nick got into the tan car and Duncan drove off. The streets were still empty and strangely still, as if a perpetual state of absolute zero had enveloped the area. The occasional glowing coffin was stationed around the area but Nick could find no other human being outside of his sister, Professor Duncan, and of course himself.

They passed a moderately large lake with a old shrine seeming to float on the water, which now reflected a nauseous shade of green. Something was odd about finding a distinctly Japanese shrine in the middle of a semi-suburban British city. Nick made a mental note to take a closer look at it in the future.

Duncan fidgeted slightly at the wheel and turned her turn signal on, the clicking of the signal rhythmically invading the silence. Within a few minutes, the small vehicle turned into the staff parking lot of Wolfridge University and the Professor led Alice and Nick to the dorms, suitcases trailing behind them.

"Now, I know that your dorm assignments say otherwise, but I… I think you would do better in my dorm." The Professor took a deep breath and checked her watch almost instinctively, "It's a dorm for Gifted Students. Something about your applications really impressed me and I'd like to give you an honorary position in our little club before we decide if you two are up for the… academic challenge."

Nick was too tired to say otherwise and Alice immediately accepted the opportunity, wanting to be anywhere but in the streets with glowing coffins.

As the professor opened the door to the dorm and began cleaning things up in its lobby, the twins exchanged looks. Something was definitely not right about Lakeridge but both Nick and Alice were too physically and emotionally exhausted to ask any questions.

Duncan locked the large dorm double doors, hung the keys on a door hook, and led the two towards the stairs. "This is a three story dormitory. The first floor is the lounge, kitchen, and dining room, the second is the living spaces themselves, with males on the right wing and females on the left, and the third floor is strictly prohibited for honorary members to enter." She helped them haul the suitcases up the several flights of stairs. "It's where we do our work and we have to adhere by a strict schedule, so we won't have time to clue in honorary members."

Alice nodded and thanked the professor without really paying attention to what she was saying. Duncan lead them to their rooms, which were indeed in separate wings of the second floor, and wished them a good night. Alice hugged Nick in silence for what seemed like eternity before working up the courage to leave him.

"Night, Nick. It's going to be fine."

Nick fabricated a smile, "Yeah…"

When Alice entered her small dorm, all she could see was the eerily green sky glowing outside of her window. She closed the blinds quickly and looked away. Nearby, a clock read that it was midnight and the second hand failed to move despite a constant ticking sound that emanated from it. She figured the clock was broken but didn't dare to go back outside in her current state. As she lay in bed, flashing images of her horrific day perverted her dreams and she found herself dozing into a disturbing restless sleep.


	2. 2: Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

**Episode 102**

**[Invocation]**

**Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting**

A platinum-blonde girl in a traditional school uniform ran up the glass steps of the Hōrai Shrine, evoker in hand. A large Shadow about the size of a boulder clawed its way after her, smashing the walls of the staircase with its large dark claws and elongating its neck so that its mask could get closer to her. The girl took one last step and turned around, gun-like evoker held upside down, pointed at her head. She pulled the trigger.

"Rán!"

Immediately, a slim woman clad in modified fishnets and crisscrossing fabric appeared in a surge of blue light. The woman, whose skin was entirely blue and eyes white, held an oversized fishnet which she raised in the air, summoning a large plume of water to envelope the Shadow like sleep to a newborn child.

A light brown haired young man charged at the Shadow from behind it, punching it with a well-crafted brass knuckle gauntlet. With each impact, little shreds of gelatinous shadow tore itself away from the parent body and dissolved in mid-air. Behind him stood a short blond boy, who held an evoker in his hand. He slowly raised it to his forehead, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.

"Persona!"

A dark-robed man with surreal lights flowing around him appeared out of the blond boy's head. He lifted an arm at the large Shadow and immediately, orbs of light travelled from the Shadow to the Persona.

"Cover me for a second while Mímir scans the target!" said the boy.

The white-haired girl leapt over one of the Shadow's attacking tentacles before diving in, diamond nails outstretched and aiming for the kill. "Yeah, no problem, Chris!" She shouted sarcastically, "It seems pretty persistent on killing me, so don't worry about yourself."

The orbs of light stopped appearing and the Persona Mímir folded his arms before disappearing, becoming one with Christopher Rivers' mind once more. "Heh. I love you Rae." Chris chuckled a bit in response to her remark, "This Shadow is weak to Zio spells."

"Well, that's just wonderful," Rae rolled her eyes as she jumped backwards a good distance, dodging a sword arc from the Shadow. "None of us have any Zio spells!"

The well-built brown haired boy pulled an evoker out of his pocket, summoning Virtus, who flexed his hulking muscles by raising two large curved swords before diving at the enemy. "Don't worry about it Rae," he grinned, sticking his evoker back into its holster, "I still have one of those Zio Magatamas that Duncan gave us." He lifted a shining golden intricately woven circle, which immediately dissipated into the air, shooting up a beam of white light, which shot back down as lighting, knocking the Shadow down to the ground.

"Here's our chance for an all-out attack!" Chris yelled. "Rae, focus on Aqua spells and Brady, go all out on physical attacks!"

Two loud gunshots filled the air and two supernatural entities appeared, one summoning a large tidal wave and the other again floating up and then proceeding to dive downwards, swords thrust forward, at the Shadow. Within a few moments, it dissolved into a pool of darkness, which looked like liquid smoke. The only solid object left of the Shadow was a thin light blue eyeless mask.

Rae climbed down the glass steps to approach her two companions, leaning over to pick up the strange mask on the way. She was a pale girl, with light pink lips, long icy blonde hair, and light blue eyes. She was slim in figure, studious in nature, and steadfastly wore the school uniform whenever possible. She had long ago said that she wouldn't have to worry about matching clothes with the uniform on.

"Shit. Third floor of Hōrai and we already run into a Shadow that we can barely kill," Rae lamented as she flipped her hair out of her eyes.

The boy named Brady shrugged and cracked his knuckles. He was a very attractive boy, with a swimmer's body of toned lean muscle and a rugged, contoured face with stubble underneath his mouth. His brown-orange hair was short and neat, and his facial hair grew out so often that he was rarely, if ever, seen clean-shaven. Brady put away his evoker. "What's so special about the mask, Rae?"

Christopher approached his allies, looking visibly shaken. He was a relatively short guy, with messy dirty blond hair and a thin, decidedly non-athletic build. His eyes were a deep blue and he had a habit of biting his lip when nervous. "I think we should get back to Duncan. There's no way we can do this without her."

As if on cue, static blared in the team's earpieces and Professor Meredith Duncan's voice came online. Hey, is everyone okay? Their status was given to her. About a half an hour ago, I picked up two students who may have the potential. They're twins.

Brady grinned. "I remember the last time I got with twins. Are they hot twins?"

One of them is male.

Brady hesitated a bit.

"Anyway," Christopher rubbed his eyes with two fingers in exasperation, "How soon will we know if they have the power?"

I-I'm not sure. Duncan laughed nervously, I moved them to our dorm so we could all keep an eye on them. Make them feel at home and I'll try to find out any information about them. And, while we're at it, why don't you come back for tonight. You have less than half of the Dark Hour left, anyhow, and we'll need students in the dorm so it won't look strange to them.

Christopher nodded, "Roger that, Duncan. I'll see you soon." The wire disconnected and the three checked to make sure that all of their belongings were with them. "Make sure you don't leave anything in here, guys," Christopher warned, "When Duncan and I came in the first time just to scout around, I left my wallet and we found it the next day floating in the water where Hōrai is in the Dark Hour."

The team gathered their belongings and was out of the Shadow-infested shrine in just a few minutes.

---

Alice Walker woke up at five thirty the next day, exhausted and confused. She brushed her auburn hair out of her eyes and groaned tiredly. Despite the contrary evidence, she had a hard time believing what happened the night before was true and she even looked around the dorm to make sure she wasn't in her bedroom back in her parents' house. She fixed her hair and pulled on a cotton pair of pajama pants and a red tank top before leaving her dormitory.

The hallways were completely empty, and the light had only started to shine through the windows, begging to come in like a dog scratching at a master's door. She opened some of the curtains in the circular lobby area of the second floor before approaching the door to her brother's room. Alice hesitated for a brief moment and then knocked on the door slowly. She could hear a sleepy moan from inside.

"Nick? Are you awake?"

An annoyed gurgle and a rustling of blankets later, an irritated Nick with extreme bed-hair opened the door wearing a blue and white t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. "What do you want, Alice?"

"School starts tomorrow and I couldn't go back to sleep. Do you want to look around the area?"

Nick stared at her for a few seconds, shrugged, and then closed the door. She could hear sounds of him getting ready inside and in a few minutes, he was out, hair combed and jeans on. "Where to?"

Alice led him downstairs to the lobby to get breakfast from the kitchen. A lone girl stood facing the counter, apparently making coffee. She wore a tight sleeveless black top and a pair of jeans. Alice hopped down the last few steps and awkwardly approached the girl, "Hi! I'm Alice, an 'honorary member' I guess. How are you?"

The white-haired girl waited a few seconds for her coffee to be done before turning around and smiling, "I'm Rae Regan. I've heard about you from Duncan. It's nice to finally meet you."

Nick suppressed a grin, "Why are you up so early?"

"I could say the same to you." Rae took a sip of coffee. Nick noted that she drank it black. "I like to watch the sunrise in the morning sometimes. The good part's already passed though." She motioned for them to sit down in the lounge.

It was a comfortable place, with couches and furniture a lovely shade of ivory and a small television positioned in a corner. There was a fireplace loaded with wood but decidedly unlit that positioned itself between two solo plush chairs, and a long and slender glass table between all of the seats.

Rae sat down in one of the solo chairs and took another sip, "What time did you get here? I heard it was pretty late."

Alice nodded, "Yeah. I think I started hallucinating or something. I must have been really tired."

Rae nodded almost instinctively.

The dorm double doors opened suddenly, and a sweaty, lean, and muscular young man came in, jogging in place. He wore a sleeveless athletic jersey that showed off both athlete's fitness and European hair and a pair of track shorts, "Hey, Rae? I think I lost my car keys."

"This is Brady," Rae ignored and motioned to the man before turning to Brady himself, "And this is Alice and Nick Walker."

"Nice to meet you, Alice." Brady winked. He began stretching and performing floor exercises, both because it was unhealthy to abruptly stop exercising after a run and also to impress the female twin. She awkwardly turned away and kept her gaze firmly on Rae.

A short rush of static blared through the dorm speakers violently grabbing the attention towards it and forcing Brady to stop doing push-ups.

Sorry to interrupt this little get-together, but a Shadow is about to attack the dorm! It was the voice of Duncan. It's just one, but watch out!

Rae's eyes widened in surprise, "How'd they find us here?!" Brady shrugged but cracked his knuckles and pulled out a pair of metallic gauntlets from the nearby locked counter.

"How did _who _find us, and has the Professor been listening this entire time?!" Nick looked around frantically for an answer. Alice backed up a little, staring at the dorm door which seemed like it could burst open at any moment.

Brady continued stretching, "Prepare yourself, Rae." However, she already was. Turning her wire on to a private line, she tried futilely to contact Christopher.

I'm trying to get him up, Rae, but it's not working. I know my scans are more for locations of things, but I guess I'll have to focus on enemies this time. I'm sure I'll be adequate. Nick looked up at the blaring speakers, trying to figure out if there was a camera nearby. Get ready, guys. Here it comes! the voice of Duncan ended as a sudden gunshot filled the speakers.

Nick and Alice screamed and tried to find a safe place to hide behind. The double doors were forced open, and a single floating sphere entered, blue mask firmly placed on its back and a giant mouth with an elastic tongue and sharp teeth on its front.

"It's a Hablerie!" Brady groaned, sidestepping a sweeping elongating tongue attack. He ducked behind the check-in counter which bore the full impact of the damp onslaught and then jumped onto the top of the counter, driving his spiked fist into the side of the floating sphere.

The Hablerie fell backwards into an armoire, shattering the glass. Alice grabbed onto Nick and tried to slowly make it to the stairs.

"It's no use, Brady! We can't kill it with physical attacks alone!" Rae cried, grabbing her evoker.

"Don't do it, Rae! We can't risk it!"

The speakers suddenly interrupted the argument, static blaring. Althaea finished scanning the target. It's weak to Aqua spells!

"I'm on it!" Rae shouted. The Hablerie, seeing its incoming demise, shot out its tongue, which stretched like gelatin and punched her in the face, sending her flying into the ground.

Brady gasped, whipping out his own evoker and jamming it up the bottom of his chin. "Virtus! Cast Dia!"

The muscular winged man appeared once more. This time he crossed his swords in mid-air and a heavenly light engulfed Rae, closing her wounds.

"Thank you!" Rae groaned, getting up to her feet and pressing herself against the wall of the tight hallway, dodging another extended tongue attack. She pressed her evoker against her forehead, held upside down, and pulled the trigger. "Persona!"

The blue-skinned woman appeared with her oversized magical net in hand. She raised the net into the air, summoning a torrent of water to drown the Hablerie and also leaving the surrounding furniture soaking wet. The Hablerie fell to the ground as Rae's persona disappeared into her consciousness. "Here's our chance, Brady! Are you ready?"

His reply was unspoken, but understood. The two rushed at the Shadow and it was quickly disposed, leaving a puddle of darkness, a cracked blue mask, and a drenched pair of car keys, which Brady quickly hid.

"It's just like the other one." Brady commented.

Rae found the twins cowering near the staircase.

"What the hell was that?" Nick gasped standing up defiantly.

Rae looked down. "I think it's about time to tell you the truth."

The voice blared through the speakers once more. I'll force Christopher to get up. Everyone be in the lounge in fifteen minutes.


	3. 3: Friend of the Devil

**Episode 103**

**[Invocation]**

**Friend of the Devil**

Five students sat around the slender glass table in the lounge as Professor Meredith Duncan raised a gun-like object to her head. Christopher Rivers, Brady Martin, and Rae Regan sat with their own evokers across from twins Nick and Alice Walker who looked around at the trashed dorm lounge in awe.

The professor pulled the trigger, "Help me, Althaea!"

A beautiful woman in a flowing white silk gown appeared out of the dark blue mist surrounding the professor. She had long curly blond locks and held a fireplace brand in her hand, which was slowly being consumed by a magical fire held in her hand. With the other hand, Althaea emitted a bright multi-colored light, which repaired the damage to any furniture or walls in the immediate area. Once finished, Althaea disappeared once more into Professor Duncan's mind.

"This," Duncan sighed as she sat down, "is a persona. It's a manifestation of a person's true self that takes the form of mythological beings. I'm trying to find out why they are all from mythology myself."

Brady raised his evoker, showing the twins. "This is an evoker. Don't worry, it's not a real gun. It helps us summon our personas."

Nick shook his head in awe, "How does that work?"

"It provides enough mental trauma to force our true selves to appear," Rae chimed in, "Without truly facing oneself, the persona's true abilities cannot be attained and they cannot be summoned at will without an evoker."

"The monsters that attacked you are called Shadows." Duncan nodded, "They're much like personas, but they seem to be controlled by some other force. They gather and perhaps spawn from places we call 'Shadow Hotspots' that only appear during the Dark Hour."

Alice blinked, "What's the Dark Hour? Why is everything so strange here?"

"The Dark Hour takes place everywhere, Alice. It's not just in Lakeridge." Christopher shifted uncomfortably, "Normal people don't see it though. They appear as just coffins. It's an extra hour between midnight and one a.m. where the Shadows come out and get us. Every so often, though, a Shadow will appear outside of the Dark Hour for some reason, like today. We're still trying to find out how and why it managed to find us."

Brady quietly gulped and hid his car keys deep within his pocket.

"The problem with these hotspots though," Rae sighed, "Is that there are so many of them and the Shadows keep spawning from them. Each hotspot has dozens of floors and it seems like the Shadows are trying to travel down the floors. If they reach the ground floor, they're free to come out into our world, which can wreak havoc as you just saw."

"The thing is, we weren't aware that Shadows can be in our world when it's not the Dark Hour." Duncan stood up, walking to a locked cabinet against the wall. "That Hablerie must have escaped Hōrai before the hour ended, hence why it was stuck in our world."

The professor finished unlocking the cabinet, pulling out a drawer with rows and rows of neatly lined briefcases, all equally shiny and enigmatic. She pulled two and closed the shelf again, locking them.

"We're not going to force you, but we could use your help in fighting the Shadows. I can sense that you have the potential, as you've already experienced the Dark Hour without being harmed, and the Hablerie was probably drawn towards the scent of a normal human. You won't be safe anymore unless you can control your Personas." Duncan placed the two briefcases gently on the glass table.

Alice threw a look at Nick who shrugged. "What's inside?"

"An evoker." Brady nodded, "You're going to need them if you want to survive now that you know the truth. Bring it with you everywhere. Even to school."

Alice picked up the briefcase nearest to her and stared at her reflection in the shiny metallic coating. Tentatively, she unlatched the edges and opened the lid. Nick looked on from the side, his briefcase untouched. Inside was a petite but daunting gray gun-like object with the word "Evoker" inscribed on the side. Hands shaking, she picked up her evoker and slowly pulled it up to her head.

What if it was all a trick? What if the evoker was a real gun? Wouldn't she die if she shot herself in the head with a real gun? What would her family say?

The evoker was mercilessly ripped away from its nest on her right temple by her hand as she placed it back in the suitcase and closed the lid.

"I'm… I'm sorry, I can't do it."

"It's okay." Christopher shook his head knowingly, "It takes time. It happens to all of us."

Nick hadn't even opened his yet, but he picked up his briefcase and stood up.

Seeing their less than stellar reaction, Rae took charge, "Maybe we should just wait for another day. Just relax for now. The first day of school is tomorrow so focus on your studies. We'll go to Hōrai sometime soon and bring you two along so you can see what we're up against."

Nick nodded and headed up the stairs.

The first day of school wasn't entirely uneventful, but it passed without a second thought in Nick Walker's mind. Throughout the day, all he could think about was the ridiculous situation he was in. It had to be a joke, or maybe a prank. Either way, he just couldn't accept that something this strange actually existed in the world.

Preoccupied by his thoughts, he accidentally ran into a red-headed girl in the hallway. She dropped a pile of books she was holding and quickly bent over to reorganize the new mess. Nick got down to help her, "I'm so sorry about that. There's just a lot on my mind."

"Oh, it's no problem at all. Thanks for helping me," replied the girl, "I'm Rose, by the way. You look new."

Nick shrugged, picking up two small notebooks and handing it to Rose, "I'm Nick. I just moved here with my sister."

"Oh, well I hope you like it here."

Nick nodded, ready to move on.

"Hey," interrupted Rose, "If you're not doing anything for lunch, you could stop on by the roof and hang out with my friends and me."

Nick chuckled awkwardly, "Sure, I guess. I'll see."

Rose smiled and waved as she turned away, "Later!"

As he swiftly climbed down the stairs to his next class, Nick thought about her offer and considered bringing his sister along with them. It sounded like a good idea; after all, it'd be nice to get to know more people than the strange gun-toting group in his dorm. Then again, if he was going to be stuck with these people and there was a legitimate form of danger, which the battle the day before proved, perhaps he should get to know his dorm mates better.

While her brother was busy rushing to class after his incident, Alice Walker was introducing herself to a trio of girls in her literature class. The teacher had decided to start off the year with a 'getting-to-know-you' game. Alice hated those games; she didn't think anyone actually liked them.

The girl in the center with the wavy brown hair shook her hand, "I'm Vanessa. Nice to meet you, Alice."

There were two girls flanking Vanessa. The one on her left was a gorgeous Latina girl with sleek black hair tied up into a high ponytail, while the one on her right seemed much more reserved and shy, staring down at the ground with a matching ponytail- this time blond. Like the rest of the students at Wolfridge University, were wearing matching uniforms which included a neat white button-up top with a dark blue bow for girls or a slim tie for boys, and either a black skirt or slacks.

"I'm Santana," began the Latina girl, "and this is Nora."

Alice shook each of the girls' hands, with the exception of Nora would simply looked up and stared at her, and glanced at the clock again. The girls were nice and all, but she couldn't help getting distracted by her current situation. She had recently held a gun to her head, and understandably could not get over it.

Finally, the bell rang and class was let out for lunch. Alice checked her schedule again and threw her belongings into her backpack before swinging it over her shoulder and hurrying out, making sure to wave to the three girls on the way. Only seconds after she had stepped into the hallway, she received a text message from her brother:

'Brady told me that we should meet with them back at the dorm for lunch. He's cooking.'

Brady was a nice guy, but she couldn't help shaking the disturbing feeling that came after seeing him use his evoker. Sure, it wasn't a real gun, but there was still something definitely traumatic about watching a college student pull the trigger on a gun-like object to their skull. Regardless, Alice headed back to the dorm as quickly as possible.

By the time she reached the dorm, the rest of the dorm, barring Duncan, were seated at the dining room table, eating the skillets that Brady had cooked up. Alice faked a smile and put her bag down before finding a chair and grabbing a plate.

"How was the first day of school?" Rae smiled warmly.

"Fine," Alice replied. Her brother stayed silent.

"We should cut to the chase," Christopher hurried, "We called you here… because we're planning on going to Hōrai tonight."

"What's that?" Alice looked around the table.

"It's… it's one of the shadow hot spots we talked about," Rae added, "We think you need to see what we're up against before you make a decision."

"Please. We're just asking you to give it a chance," Chris hastily confirmed, "Are you in?"

Nick was silent, but Alice perked up and looked each of the students in the eye, "… I'm in."


End file.
